Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I was looking out our skylight to see if I saw any activity on the roof and was shocked to see the corner of my upturned hive stand lying across the window. When I hit the roof it looked as if vandals had hit although fortunately only the unoccupied Wickford was in shambles and Newport and Narragansett had supers off-kilter and a hive top blown off.

Narragansett had plenty of action at the hive entrance, perhaps due to the missing top...but that action was in stark contrast to Newport, which despite the break in the cold (it was about 46 degrees) had only a stray or two flying.

The eastern stand, Westerly and Providence, was unharmed and the double stacked nuc that will eventually occupy these hives was very alive, as the photo above shows.

We've been contacted by several community gardens lately about beekeeping in Washington, DC where their operations are located. I hope to get a couple of new installations out of these conversations. Bee sting fears continue to be a hurdle.